LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Confederate flag is beyond definition; it’s history

By WILLIAM EVERETT, Baker

Published: Wednesday, September 25, 2013 at 05:33 PM.

Dear editor,

It’s amazing how so many people believe or see things the way they want to see them.

There is a lot of information — facts — out there on the Confederate flag; search online for “Confederate flag history” or check out books at the Crestview library.

Eighty-five percent of people who complain that the flag reminds them of one’s southern heritage apparently do not know that northern civilians owned slaves prior to, during and even after the war.

The biggest myth everyone wants people to believe is that the war was fought over slavery — terribly untrue. The North fought the war over money, land to grow food and sea ports.

The war was about splitting the South and the North (like North New Jersey and South New Jersey — that fight goes on to this day).

Did you know that all the southern states still have some form of the Confederate flag — and if you still want to kill history by doing away with the flag, how about the USA flag? Many slaves served William T. Sherman until well after the war was over; Sherman did not free them until late 1865. The same was true of Ulysses S. Grant — and when asked why he did not free his slaves earlier, Grant stated, "Good help is hard to find."

It’s amazing how so many people believe or see things the way they want to see them.

There is a lot of information — facts — out there on the Confederate flag; search online for “Confederate flag history” or check out books at the Crestview library.

Eighty-five percent of people who complain that the flag reminds them of one’s southern heritage apparently do not know that northern civilians owned slaves prior to, during and even after the war.

The biggest myth everyone wants people to believe is that the war was fought over slavery — terribly untrue. The North fought the war over money, land to grow food and sea ports.

The war was about splitting the South and the North (like North New Jersey and South New Jersey — that fight goes on to this day).

Did you know that all the southern states still have some form of the Confederate flag — and if you still want to kill history by doing away with the flag, how about the USA flag? Many slaves served William T. Sherman until well after the war was over; Sherman did not free them until late 1865. The same was true of Ulysses S. Grant — and when asked why he did not free his slaves earlier, Grant stated, "Good help is hard to find."

It is a myth that the Confederate battle flag was flown on slave ships.

Actually, all the slave ships were operated by the English, the Dutch and the Portuguese.

When the war of 1861-1865 officially commenced, the southern states were actually in the process of freeing all slaves in the South. Russia had freed its servants in 1859, and the South took note of this.

Had military intervention not been forced upon the South, a very different America would have been realized then and now.

Why does Mae R. Coleman want to do away with the Confederate flag? Is it really a sign of slavery when the North had just as many slaves, and most of the northern states at first rejected the 13th Amendment because Lincoln only gave freedom to slaves in the South and not to the North? Delaware did not free slaves until 1901, so one might think you would also want to do away with the American flag, too.

It seems to me that we perceive what we want to see; it’s always in the eye of the beholder. The Confederate flag is not what you think it should be; it doesn’t stand for what you think it does.